Polish gov’t to earmark trial airspace for drone testing

The Polish government plans to ease regulations to open a testing environment for drones in the country.

Photo: StockSnap/pixabay.com/CC0 Creative Commons

In line with a so-called regulatory "sandbox", a restricted airspace will be earmarked over post-industrial areas of Warsaw and the southern city of Katowice in order to test new applications for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).

The regulation sandbox provides for the suspension of various restrictive laws against drones, such as the requirement to fly the device only within sight of the operator.

Under a trial programme run by state-owned financial group the Polish Development Fund, the drones are to transport blood and organs for transplants, parcels, and also carry out tasks related to waste management and monitoring groundwater.

Experts believe that allocating one drone per operator defeats the purpose as a completely autonomous fleet of drones will be needed in Poland in the future, the Rzeczpospolita daily reported.

“It’s time for projects that will eliminate the weakest link, namely humans,” Paweł Szamański, from the Civil Aviation Authority told Rzeczpospolita. “Autonomous robots and services developed with their help require special infrastructure and new regulations,” he added.